Scars
by dave-d
Summary: Sousuke at Kaname's apartment. His shirt is off. Scars.


***ding** _**dongggg-ggg-gg-g***_

The doorbell to Kaname's apartment rang.

Kyoko waited peacefully, expecting to hear the usual: the sound of Kaname's footfalls growing gradually louder. She smiled in anticipation.

"Probably about thirty more seconds." Kyouko could picture Kaname throwing a toothbrush over her back, sinking it in its white porcelain cup, just before she spat out the suds and made a beeline for the door. For such a person so precise in everything else, she never seemed to be ready right on time.

That was okay. It was always a highlight of her day, to see a smiling out of breath Kaname welcome her.

The door opened earlier than expected. "Ka-_naaa-aa-a_-maaa-aa-y." Kyouko said, camera at the ready. She loved snapping a pic of her best friend before she had done her hair. It totally caught her off guard, no matter how many times she played the game.

She could always wheedle Kaname out of something during their shopping trips or their visits to the karaoke shop, as blackmail to get her to erase the image. Maybe a strawberry crepe. _Mmmm-mmm-mm-m. _That would be heavenly.

***FLASH***

Looking up from her viewfinder, Kyouko froze. Her glasses slipped down her nose after she started, almost jumping out of her clogs. The person standing in the door wasn't Kaname. It was Sousuke.

And he was shirtless!

"S-S-S-" Kyouko stammered. First of all, she wasn't good around boys. Second, there was a boy standing in front of her with his shirt off. Third, it was Sousuke Sagara with his shirt off… standing inside of Kaname's apartment. Her glasses steamed, as she thought an improbable thought: what if Kaname walked up next, only partially clad?

"Ah," Sousuke said, as if this was a simple ordinary encounter. If the reverse had occurred… him opening the door and finding a half-naked Kyouko… he may have ended up catatonic. "Tokiwa. Good morning."

"Ummm," Kyoko said, her love of intrigue building. "Good morning, Sousuke. You're here awfully early." It couldn't be true, but she just had to ask! "You… well… you didn't spend the night, _did _you?"

"Negative," Sousuke relied crisply. "I was not assigned that mission." He made a quizzical face. Wondering why his classmate was giggling. "Was Kaname expecting you?"

"**Affirmative!"** Kyoko saluted, smiling. She would never do that at school… it would seem childish and maybe even mocking. But, on a Saturday… on an excursion day when she was so full of joy… it seemed just perfect.

"At ease," Sousuke said automatically, eyebrows raising. Now the girl was doubled over with laughter. Why?

"May I come in, Sousuke?" Kyoko asked. She took another picture of Sousuke. It might be something else to blackmail Kaname with. It might get het a hot fudge sundae. No. When she was in the right mood, Kaname might want to keep it. Then she could be hit up for movies passes or a trip to the hair salon. "Do I need to be frisked or something?"

"**No!"** Sousuke stood straight, sweat drops at sides of his face. "I am honored that you consider me fit do the examination, but it will _not_ be necessary!" He backed down the hallway swiftly, before turning and striding into Kaname's living room.

"Is Kaname here?' Kyoko asked. If she were, she couldn't have heard the exchange. Otherwise she would have yelled at Sousuke, for being too stiff and military. How many times had she heard _that?_ How many times had she caught it on camera?

"Yes and no," Sousuke answered. "Unless she has been kidnapped, she is still in the building. But no, she is not currently present in her set of rooms."

"Then why can I see her in her bedroom," Kyoko said, pointing. She raised her camera. "And why is she walking around in a bra and panties. Sousuke… you bad _bad_ boy!"

"That-" Sousuke turned to face the bedroom door, but had his hand firmly over his eyes. He wondered why he had done those two things together, as they were seemingly contradictory. He peaked between his fingers. "As I thought… she is _not_ there…."

***FLASH* *FLASH* *FLASH***

"Hostiles!" Sousuke reacted automatically, as if the unexpected flashes of light came from discharged weapons and he was calling out to squadmates following on his six. He jumped behind a large stuffed chair, and immediately began pushing it towards Kyoko. His situational awareness catching up with his reflexes, he stopped… sheepishly stood up…, and then placed the chair where he had found it. "Uhhh-hh-h."

"It's alright, Sousuke." Kyoko's voice was a bit husky. That had caught her by surprise,too. It had probably shocked her out of a day or two of life. Make that _two _crepes! She would put it on Kaname's tab. "I promise… I won't tell Kana-chan." She wanted to ask about 'Hostiles,' but thought better of it. Besides, something even more shocking caught her eye.

Sousuke's back.

"**Sousuke!"** Kyoko said sharply, before bringing a hand to her mouth.

"What?!" Sousuke's heightened senses took over. He jumped around in a crouch; but, there were no enemies. Wait! What if! He scanned the flow quickly, wondering if he had accidentally pulled a pin on a grenade. No. Impossible. He had made certain to leave those behind. _This_ time. He remembered what happened. Last time. "Is there a problem?"

"_Yes._ I mean no." Kyoko swallowed hard. "Your… your back…." She now wondered about his shirt again. But, the images she had in her mind trumped that thought.

"My back?" Sousuke looked perplexed. He turned to face Kyoko when speaking, as that was the polite thing to do. It placed the scars out of sight.

"So…." Kyoko began. "So many scars." Parts of Sousuke's back had looked more like a roadmap than skin. "Do… do they hurt…." She'd never really looked closely before, when they were together at the beach, or at the onsen. She had been way too proper. She knew that something seemed out of the ordinary, but did not want to pry. She didn't want to feel like a stalker, or something. And somehow, if she looked too closely at Sousuke, she might feel like a traitor to Kaname, for some reason. But now... none of that seemed to be an issue. It would almost be rude not to look, acting as if her classmate didn't exist or something. All things in moderation.

"They do not," Sousuke replied honestly. "Not any more. Only a few of the wounds caused prolonged pain." He turned his back towards the girl. "This one of the exceptions. It came-" He almost told Kyoko the truth. Cambodia. An attack on a Black Technology Bio-Tech gang creating non-human soldiers. _That would not do!_ So, he blurted out something the girl might believe, the first thing that came to his mind. "-When Kaname caught me bringing a gun into English class." He began to sweat again. Hopefully Kyoko wouldn't mention that to Kaname.

"Kana-chan did _that?"_ Kyoko looked unconvinced, momentarily. Then again, some of the things that Kaname did to Sousuke at school would put a rugby player in the hospital for a week or two. "But… all those others…."

"Classical Japanese," Sousuke said pointing to a smaller scar, lower down. He had taken that wound in North Korea, extracting a Whispered girl from a brothel. The pimp had been barely over four feet in height, but had swung a mean hat-pin. "After she said that I didn't need flashbangs to help make the teacher's description of a sea battle seem realistic." Did that seem believable?

"That one…" Kyoko shocked herself, her audacity seeming more out of place than her bravery. She touched one scar very gently. "And…." She touched another. "This one?"

"Lunch line," Sousuke spat out a little too quickly. "I got the last custard bread." He heard Kyoko gasp. That one definitely _could_ be real. He wouldn't expect her to believe him if he said 'Guatemala', and 'illegal Black Market bartering.' It would be worse if she did! "And… the other was…." He saw Kaname's calendar. It showed a beach scene. "At the onsen. Capt-" He coughed. "Teletha Testarossa tried to put sunscreen on me. For some reason, Kaname got upset." He felt bad about that one. He could do brig time, lying about a superior officer. Not about the incident. About the scar. Commander Mardukas would be more upset if he heard about the lotion, than if the young soldier had told Kyoko: 'Amalgam attack, French Polynesia.'

"Yes…" Kyoko smiled. "The two of _do _seem to get on each other's nerves, _don't _they." She paused, wondering how Sousuke would react. "Especially around _you. "_

"**That!"** Sousuke stiffened up. "I am gratified that you think so!" No, he wasn't, really. He almost blurted out something about Tessa and duty. He also felt sweat drop form at both armpits. In reality, the way that Tessa and Kaname acted when they were together with him always left him stressed. He couldn't count the sleepless nights!

"How about _this_ scar," Kyoko said, resuming the game. She didn't really believe that Kaname had caused any of the injuries. Most of them looked very old. She really wished that she could know the truth. No. Reverse that and erase it. By the look of things, she was probably better off _not_ knowing. "It's pretty big." She sighed. "It's a good thing you have room for a lot more."

"It _is?'_ Sousuke couldn't tell if they girl was being serious. The tone of voice didn't go along with a jest or a joke.

"You have to be strong, to put up with Kaname." Kyoko nodded her head. That was actually very true. Kaname had driven away many boys in the time that they had been friends. Some of them she had actually cared about. She was not an easy person to deal with, some of the time. No. A lot of the time… for guys. "No one else can probably do it."

"Really," Sousuke had a pensive look on his face. Why did he feel a tiny sense of satisfaction? That was not like him. _Was_ it?

"But," Kyoko said in a hush voice. "You have to be strong for another reason." She walked over and made certain that Kaname wasn't at the door. "Kaname needs to be around someone strong. She can't do everything herself; but, she always tries to… and often does too much. And sometimes… well…." She didn't finish. She almost felt like a traitor, saying that much. "You never told me… this scar…." She tapped the one again.

"It-" Sousuke blanked. He needed a good story. He remembered seeing the fire hose behind the glass door in the hallway. "When I returned Kaname's notebook the other week, I made a remark about the cleanliness of that window. Angry, she asked me if I thought I could do a better job. I used the fire hose from outside her door."

"O kaname," Kyoko said. For a brief while there, she had actually swallowed the hook and taken that reply as gospel. Stupid girl! But, it was an honest mistake. With those two, a story like that wasn't farfetched "Maybe you should leave the washing to her."

"That is what she said," Sousuke remarked. "She is in the basement laundry room, now. Cleaning my shirt."

"What happened?" Kyoko asked. This ought to be good. "You didn't have one of those ink packets in your pocket again… _did_ you?" She remembered a classic day. Kaname had made an ill-timed joke, when someone asked why the Student Council didn't spend more money on a festival. She had said that someone must be embezzling school funds. As a result, Sousuke had gotten some of the ink packets that some banks put on money. When one exploded, it wasn't on a would-be thief. It was on Kaname. She ran screaming after Sousuke, looking like someone from that famous ensemble, the Blue Man Group.

"No, I ran out of those." Sousuke actually sounded sad. That had Kyoko doing a double-take. Sousuke was quite the handful. Maybe Kaname had to be stronger than Sousuke did! "It's… well…." Sousuke didn't finish.

"It's okay, Sousuke." Kyoko said, in that kind way of her. "I'm sure she'll forgive you." That ought to get him to tell her.

"I expected that the time she mentioned for my arrival was early, so that I would be gone before you came over," Sousuke surmised. "I had borrowed a notebook… and…"

"Forgot to give it to her at school yesterday," Kyoko guessed correctly. That's why Kaname had shoved Sousuke into his locker and locked him there. She had beaten him with her school bag when he used an acetylene torch to cut his way out, immediately thereafter. Who keeps one of _those_ in his or her high school locker!

"Affirmative," Sousuke said. "She didn't really need it until Monday. But, she said that it was the straw that broke the camel's back. And she said that it was a really _really_ big camel. Larger than an Arm-" He bit off the word 'Slave and said instead: "Armored Car."

"And-" Kyoko said.

"Monday I leave for training." Sousuke froze. "I mean… I leave on a train. There is some place I need to go. I will not be back until mid-week."

"Are you cold, Sousuke?" Kyoko shivered a bit. She always thought that Kaname kept the thermostat way too low. She would spend a fortune on cutlet sandwiches, but skimp on her heat. "I can get you one of Kaname's tops to wear. Maybe something with frills. You can leave off the brassiere. "

***FLASH***

Kyoko took another picture. That face had been classic. "So… you brought her the notebook back. Then-"

"I took her commands very seriously," Sousuke began, his face intense. "I awoke at my usual hour for Saturdays… 0500 hours… but shortened my calisthenics routine. Timelessness is next to godliness."

"Cleanliness is next to godliness," Kyoko said, knowing the proper phrase in English.

"Indeed, Kaname has said that, too." Sousuke said. "So... I showered once with laundry detergent. When my clothes were clean, I took them off and put them in the dryer, and went back to shower for a second time."

"I… see…" Kyoko said. A little too much information, there.

"I then ate a nutritious breakfast," Sousuke remarked. All of the things he put in the blender might be nutritious and edible on their own, but together they would be a nightmare. Kyoko shuddered. She listened as Sousuke ran down his itinerary.

"When I reached her apartment door, it was locked." Sousuke said. "I rang the bell numerous times. She did not answer. I called a telrphone number that tells the correct time… my watch was accurate to the minute. I began to be concerned-"

"Of _course _you did," Kyoko said sweetly. She thought but didn't say 'It sounds as if you've grown a lot more patient.' Normally he would have kicked the door down by that time, pistol in hand. "So-"

"I knew that the people at the desk wouldn't give me a spare key." Sousuke didn't tell her that the desk manager had threatened him with a restraining order the last time he had asked. He had asked a bit too physically. "And the people next door would probably not let me in… and allow me to cut through their wall…." He had done that anonymously, once. The occupants had been on vacation. Kaname had not been happy. Neither had Mithril's Financial office, who had scrambled to find crew members with dry wall skills and fly them to Tokyo, paying overtime. "So… I took the elevator down to the ground floor… scaled the building… jumped down to the balcony… found it locked… and opened it with a thin cutting blade, intending to have the damage repaired later…." He stopped. He was sweating again.

"You slid open the door-" Kyoko offered.

"The blinds were drawn. So I pushed them apart." Sousuke flinched. "Kaname had been in the shower. She was seated at the table eating a muffin." He coughed, wild-eyed. "She had a bath robe on and-" He seized up.

"Nothing else?" Kyoko guessed. She was correct. Sousuke nodded his head. "O, Sousuke."

"She is not a shy girl," Sousuke remarked. "She did not retreat. I closed my eyes. She shouted. Something stuck my shirt. It was the split muffin, each half slavered with grape jelly. Then-"

"Something struck your head?" Kyoko guessed correctly again. It didn't take a genius.

"Multiple times," Sousuke replied. "A rolled-up newspaper. Followed by the table lamp and the vacuum cleaner."

"Is that all?" Kyoko quipped, astonished that Sousuke was still conscious.

"It was all that she could find," Sousuke said.

"Does it hurt," Kyoko said, reaching over and gently running her hand over Sousuke's scalp. Sure enough, there were multiple lumps and bumps there, the largest the size of an egg half. Yes. Sousuke needed to be nearly superhuman strong! Just what kept him around Kaname?

"Not nearly as much as the kick to the groin," Sousuke admitted. "Or the suplex."

"All that," Kyoko said. "But afterwards… she apologized for over-reacting and offered to clean your shirt?"

"Affirmative," Sousuke said. "Kaname is kind that way."

"-" Kyoko really didn't know how to respond to that one.

"It was probably my fault. I had thought that she had told me Saturday. She claimed that she had told me Sunday." Sousuke didn't want to face Kaname's wrath again. "I will ask you not to mention my scars to Kaname." He had missed subtle sounds. His ears were still ringing from his earlier beating.

"What _about_ your scars." That was Kaname, off course. She held her laundry basket in her arms. There was a neatly folded shirt within it, along with a plastic bottle of laundry detergent. She placed the basket on the floor. "Ky?" She looked over at her friend.

Kyoko examined her fingernails. She eyed Kaname askance. Herr friend wasn't jealous, _was_ she? Should she say 'They're so smooth,' or 'aren't they sexy.' Something inflammatory like that. No. Sousuke had suffered enough today. She didn't want to tease Kaname, and have the beaten boy take the brunt of her friend's emotional lability.

"Let me guess…." Kaname said, when neither Kyoko nor Sousuke offered an explanation. She postulated that Sousuke would not tell Kyoko the truth. He might have made up wild tales from a life he had never lived. No. He wouldn't make a plea for silence, had that been the case. "Sousuke…." Yes. It was _that_ voice. "Did… you… by… chance… tell… Ky… that… I… gave… you… those… scars…."

"Uhhh." Sousuke had _that _look.

"I see." Kaname said. She took out the detergent bottle, and put it on the floor. Kyoko had half expected her to wing it at Sousuke. The blue-haired girl took out the folded shirt. She walked towards Sousuke… and then walked right past him. She opened the door to the balcony. Then, in one swift motion, she flung the shirt like a Frisbee. Five yards out, it opened, and began sailing this way and that on the stiff breeze, nearly striking a seagull. "Let's go Ky. We'll be late." She reached for a light coat hanging from a hook. "I expect the door to be fixed when I return," she said to Sousuke. "Big idiot!"

"But-" Kyoko began following Kaname, who was doing that walk, the one that made her seemed robotic. "Sousuke-"

"He'll lock up when he leaves," Kaname replied without thinking. _"Hmmmpppfff!"_

"He has a key?" Kyoko asked sweetly. A little too sweetly. Wait. Hadn't Sosuke needed to climb the building? She could still uses this. "Are you two... like _that._..."

"**Gurk!"** Kaname choked. She pulled too hard on the coat. The Coat hook was half-pulled from the wall. "I let him use the spare." There was a key in a plastic Bonta-kun candy box on the coffee table.

"But you _have_ thought about giving him one?" Kyoko was like a shark that sensed blood in the water. "Riiii-iii-ii-ight?"

"Sousuke, fix the coat hook too." Kaname spoke brusquely to her guardian, rather than answer her friend's query. She had indeed considered that. But not for romantic reasons. Not really.

"Kana-chan… it seems we have a lot to talk about today." Kyoko loved it when she could pull secrets from Kaname.

"But-" Kaname felt a tugging at her armpit. Kyoko had grabbed her hand and was dragging her towards the front door.

"Including how good Sousuke look with his shirt off,_ right?_" Kyoko offered impishly.

"That-" Kaname was tongue-tied. She couldn't even do her trademarked and dismissive guffaw.

"Bye, Sousuke." Kyo called out just before closing the door, leaving Sousuke alone.

***Thwomp* **

The door slammed shut.

"I suppose I should get to work," Sousuke told himself. He would borrow Kaname's tool box for the repair work. "I will also take this opportunity to add the new equipment."

He had a camera system to install in the bathroom. If someone kidnapped Kaname from the shower, he would have the identity on tape. There were hidden cameras elsewhere, already. Kaname had yet to find one.

If she ever did, he would indeed need room for new scars.


End file.
